Good morning, CIOs. As businesses turn to artificial intelligence to drive cars and approve bank loans, it’s only a matter of time before firms, regulators and consumers begin to wonder how AI makes the decisions it does. Executives at companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and the research and development arm of Xerox Corp. are investing in an area of AI research called “interpretability,” an effort to understand exactly how complex AI systems solve problems, CIO Journal’s Sara Castellanos writes.

“It’s a really fruitful area of research, and it’s been massively neglected,” said Zoubin Ghahramani, chief scientist at Uber, during an AI conference this week. Uber and Xerox aren’t alone. The research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense is coordinating an effort to build “explainable AI” systems that can translate decisions into language humans can understand. Capital One Financial Corp. is also researching explainable AI, which could have far-reaching impacts in guarding against potential bias, or ethical and regulatory breaches.

Not every problem will require a detailed level of explainability. Captioning images, for example, may require less clarification than an AI-driven medical diagnosis. Even so, the availability of explainable systems could influence the adoption of artificial intelligence in the enterprise. Regulations may lead the charge, but it’s likely that consumer demand for transparency could pressure firms to provide more explainability as well. “Self-driving cars will crash,” Michael Chui, a partner at McKinsey Global Institute, said on the sidelines of the MIT Digital Economy Conference last week. “Someone will ask why that happened, and ‘a million integers’ is unsatisfying.”

Podcast: Blockchain as Lie Detector. CIO Journal’s Kim Nash explores how blockchain technology can preserve or, in some cases, restore the concept of truth in business.

TECH EARNINGS

Elon Musk, here at a press conference in February, expressed some displeasure with analysts’ questions Wednesday.

JOE SKIPPER/REUTERS

Tesla continues to burn through cash. Tesla Inc. burned through cash at a greater rate than analysts expected during the first quarter, intensifying pressure on the Silicon Valley auto maker to raise more capital if it continues to struggle ramping up production of the Model 3 sedan. Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musk turned Wednesday's conference call into a sparring session. The WSJ's Tim Higgins has more.

SECURITY

A U.S. soldier uses his smartphone to film the recovery of a helicopter in Plankenfels, Germany.

NICOLAS ARMER/DPA/ZUMA PRESS

Pentagon orders stores on military bases to remove Huawei, ZTE phones. The move comes as officials fear the Chinese government could track the whereabouts of soldiers using Huawei Technologies Co. or ZTE Corp., the Journal’s Stu Woo and Gordon Lubold report. Huawei and ZTE, both based in China, have said that would never happen.

Coming up. The Trump Administration may release an executive order, possibly in the next few weeks,curbing the ability of companies doing business with the U.S. government from using network equipment made by firms that could pose a national-security risk. The Journal’s John D. McKinnon has more.

Flaws found in industrial control software. Researchers recently found two critical flaws in popular Schneider Electric SE software. If exploited, the flaws could provide hackers the ability to shut down critical infrastructure operations, security firm Tenable Network Security Inc. tells CNET. Schneider Electric in April released patches for the flaws.

European Central Bank designs attack simulations. Following several recent attacks aimed at central banks and other financial institutions, the European Central Bank is developing a new cyber framework designed to help financial firms become more resistant to cyberattacks, Reuters reports. The framework includes attack simulations and external hackers hired to identify vulnerabilities.

Cyber firm led by ex-NSA chief picks up funding. IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., a company led by former National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander and staffed by a number of former high-ranking officials from U.S. military and intelligence agencies, has raised an additional $78 million in funding, Reuters reports. The company’s new threat-sharing technology, IronDome, has been adopted by a number of energy providers, Reuters reports.

MORE TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Cambridge Analytica’s offices in London.

DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Cambridge Analytica to close operations. The data firm that worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, embroiling itself in scandal for campaign tactics that included the use of Facebook Inc. data, is shutting down, the WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus and Jenny Gross report . Since the 2016 campaign, Cambridge Analytica hadn’t notched a single U.S. federal political client; it lost several commercial clients in recent months, according to FEC records and people familiar with the matter.

Next steps? The New York Times reports that Cambridge Analytica executives and the Mercer family, who bankrolled the company, have moved in recent months to create a new firm called Emerdata.

Aerospace suppliers look to blockchain. Airbus SE and engine-maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc. are among the industry players investigating how blockchain could be used in aerospace supply chains, Reuters reports. VeriPart, a blockchain-based solution made by flight control systems maker Moog, will initially be used to track 3D-printed components.

Over 30s need not apply in China. In the country’s booming tech scene, 30 is considered middle age and companies are quicker to drop older employees in pursuit of a 20-something workforce willing to work long hours. Bloomberg reports on the scene’s cult of youth.

U.S. government struggles to track some of its social media accounts. Despite maintaining a national registry of official accounts, the government is struggling to keep track of which accounts are its own, the WSJ’s Samarth Bansal and Rob Barry report.

Amazon.com releases number of U.S. sellers. More than one million small businesses in the U.S. sell their wares on its online marketplace, the Journal’s Laura Stevers reports. California had the most with more than 175,000, followed by New York with more than 81,000, and Florida with more than 75,000.

Telegram scraps plans for public coin offering. The popular messaging app Telegram Messenger LLP has brought in so much money from a small group of private investors that it is calling off a planned sale of cryptocurrency to the wider investing public, the WSJ's Paul Vigna reports.

Tech was supposed to eliminate lines. Food and drink apps allow people to skip the queue. A stubborn minority line up anyway, for courtesy, company or just to take a moment to relax. The Journal’s Laura Stevens gets inline/online with them.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said his longtime lawyer had paid a former adult film star in October 2016 to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter. (WSJ)

United Airlines has tapped a former White House press chief to head its communications team, part of the effort to improve the fortunes of a carrier damaged by everything from poorly received growth plans to the death of a dog in an overhead bin. (WSJ)

The Morning Download is edited by Tom Loftus and cues up the most important news in business technology every weekday morning. You can get The Morning Download emailed to you each weekday morning by clicking http://wsj.com/TheMorningDownload.